Sunday 19th April

It is that time of year again, with Mary and the team from RSPB starting early shifts doing survey work... Yesterday Mary had noted "good numbers" of Lapwings on nests up at Ardnave. Up there as well, she had a Merlin as well as a flock of 230 Golden Plover. At Kilnave, Mary saw a male Hen Harrier. The sunset last night was something else , followed by a great showing of stars, earlier on we had counted 7 ships out on the West and down towards Donegal, most them were Navy boats of different flags returning from the large NATO exercise held through the week off the North West coast of Scotland. Today off Ardnave, Mary had a good mix of birds on the water including GND, BTD, RTD, Eider, Guillemots, Razorbill, Gannet and a single Great Skua, all of which proved difficult to count due to the bright sunshine... Carl reported through having seen Sandwich Terns all week off both Bruichladdich and also Port Charlotte. Today, he had a RTD off Port Charlotte, Whimbrel flying over Port Charlotte and a Chiffchaff at Bridgend.